A £13m specialist mental health unit for children and young people is set to be built in Leeds.

Leeds Community Health Care NHS Trust, working on behalf of the West Yorkshire and Harrogate Health and Care Partnership, was one of 12 successful bids to NHS England for capital funds in the Chancellor's recent Budget.

The purpose-built specialist community child and adolescent mental health (CAMHS) unit will provide 18 specialist places and four psychiatric intensive care unit (PICU) beds - currently there are only eight 'general adolescent beds' in Leeds.

The unit will support young people from across West Yorkshire suffering from complex mental illness, such as severe personality disorders and eating disorders.

Work is expected to begin next year, subject to business case approval. The exact location of the unit has not been decided as the project is in the initial planning stages.

Leeds Community Healthcare NHS Trust CEO Thea Stein says the new unit will mean more young people across West Yorkshire will be able to receive treatment without having to travel outside of the county.

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She said: "Our ambition is to make sure that no child or young person within West Yorkshire goes out of area for treatment. This is better for them, their families and better for the local health and care economy.

"Building this new unit supports both national and regional priorities - to reduce the area that children, young people and their families have to travel to receive specialist mental health care.

"A lot of work has taken place to review and better understand child and adolescent mental health services. Children and young people accessing high quality care, and, importantly, what needs to change is a priority to us all”.